One symbol to rule them all

[MartinBlomberg]

Hi!

 

This is probably a no-brainer for everyone, but I want to find out how to use a "master folder" for all my drawings' symbols, records and so on. 

I'm working on three different venues, and I use the same symbols on every drawing. But now I've decided to update a specific set of symbols, then I'd like to reference the symbols to a master document where the symbol is located. Would look something like this:

Drawing 1. VENUE 1 - Symbol A (referenced)

Drawing 2. VENUE 2 - Symbol A (referenced)

Drawing 3. VENUE 3 - Symbol A (referenced)

Drawing 4. Master Symbol Project - Symbol A (Master to all references). 

 

If I update on Drawing 4, drawing 1-3 will automatically be updated. 

Possible?

 

Thanks all!

[markdd]

Of course why not. 

1. Make the master file with all your symbols
2. Probably best to add it to its own folder
3. Make 3 other clean files, one for each venue
4. Put them in the folder with the Master File
5. Import the Symbols you want from the Master file by right-clicking on them in the resource manager from the master file and selecting Reference.
6. A reference between the two files will be made and the referenced symbol will be in italics to let you know that it is referenced.

You can edit the symbol from any document and the changes will be pushed to all the other documents, or you can break the reference (Right-click on the Symbol listing in the resource manager) and edit it for just one venue.

 

[MartinBlomberg]

1 minute ago, markdd said:

Of course why not. 

1. Make the master file with all your symbols
2. Probably best to add it to its own folder
3. Make 3 other clean files, one for each venue
4. Put them in the folder with the Master File
5. Import the Symbols you want from the Master file by right-clicking on them in the resource manager from the master file and selecting Reference.
6. A reference between the two files will be made and the referenced symbol will be in italics to let you know that it is referenced.

You can edit the symbol from any document and the changes will be pushed to all the other documents, or you can break the reference (Right-click on the Symbol listing in the resource manager) and edit it for just one venue.

 

Nice, thank you!

Sometimes I work on rather large files and I keep my template file in a Google Drive folder.

Do I need to keep all my drawings in this template folder then? I like to keep my different drawings in different folders based on the project and customer. 

Still possible to do that or did I get something wrong?

 

Many thanks!

[markdd]

I think in general with referencing you need to be able to keep track of where everything is. Google Drive and Dropbox work well with referencing as long as you keep the files locally and don't allow the cloud drive app to make them "cloud only" after a period of time without use. I know Dropbox does that which has caused problems in the past although not with Vectorworks.

 

So no, as long as you know where they are, and use relative referencing rather than absolute, you should be OK. I don't use templates to hold anything other than the most rudimentary of settings as for me, they cause more problems than they solve!

[MartinBlomberg]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:22 PM, markdd said:

I think in general with referencing you need to be able to keep track of where everything is. Google Drive and Dropbox work well with referencing as long as you keep the files locally and don't allow the cloud drive app to make them "cloud only" after a period of time without use. I know Dropbox does that which has caused problems in the past although not with Vectorworks.

 

So no, as long as you know where they are, and use relative referencing rather than absolute, you should be OK. I don't use templates to hold anything other than the most rudimentary of settings as for me, they cause more problems than they solve!

I'm probably mega stupid now @markdd, but I don't really follow, so sorry. Do I reference the "Master Symbol" vwx-file inside the venue drawing I'm working on? Do I do that via the References-palette? Until now I've drag'n'droped the symbol I want to use from my symbol file, but then it just makes a copy. In my case I have a folder named "Customers" with all my drawings in. I also have a folder named "Symbols" with my Symbols.vwx in. I want all drawings inside my "Customers" folder to look for master-symbols inside the Symbols-file. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if you already answered this and that I'm just lost 😃

 

Many thanks! 

/Martin